On Christmas 2017, Sandra Baronick Pyne, of DuBois, had been gifted an AncestryDNA test kit by her in-laws, who were creating a family tree.

When the results came back in March 2018 showing that Pyne, who grew up in a Slavic family, was predominantly Italian, she and her family brushed it off thinking there was some kind of “mix-up.”

Not much later and not too far away, Debra Monaco Zaffuto, formerly of Brockway, was anxiously awaiting her AncestryDNA results. She and her husband, Barry, living in Ebensburg, enjoy learning about their heritages. They had been to Italy several times to research an Italian village and church records. That quest persuaded Debra to learn more by sending a sample of her DNA to ancestry.com.

They had no idea they would be in for the shock of their lives when the results came back in May 2018: They showed that Debra had a sister living in DuBois.

That sister was Sandra Baronick Pyne.

Stunned and confused, Debra called her brother, Ron Monaco, to discuss what she had learned.

Pyne was born in the same hospital and on the same day, Sept. 22, 1942, as the sister Debra and Ron grew up with, Sandra Monaco Smith.

The siblings found Pyne’s Facebook profile picture. The resemblance to Debra could not be denied. “That looks just like Mom,” Ron Monaco recalled saying.

“If you’re familiar with the AncestryDNA, you can click on her name and then it says, ‘shared matches,’” Zaffuto said. “And that’s how you know what side of the family the person is from, your dad’s side or your mom’s side. But when I clicked on hers, she was related to both sides so she had to be a full sister, not a half.”

About a week later after this discovery, Debra finally “got up the nerve” and attempted to contact Pyne online but didn’t get an immediate response. They eventually connected via email.

It took a while for the gravity of the discovery to sink in for all of them.

Sandra Pyne’s sons eventually had their DNA tested as well, confirming that they were Debra and Ron’s biological nephews. Ron Monaco’s DNA test also confirmed that Sandra Pyne and Debra Zaffuto were his sisters.

DNA tests on Sandra Monaco Smith showed that she was predominantly Eastern European. Those results and those on her family also confirmed that they were not biologically related to the Monaco family – but were a match with the Baronick family.

Smith was ill with cancer, so all involved opted not to tell her the shocking news. She died in November at age 76.

George and Lucy Monaco, of Brockway, and Robert and Josephine Baronick, of DuBois, went home with the wrong children in 1942. There could be no other explanation. Both couples have since died.

"When I opened it and it said that I was Italian and it had names on it that I didn't even know, I told my kids, 'This is a big mistake, I'm Slovak,'" recalled Sandra Pyne. "And I called my sister-in-law and said, 'They mixed my test up. I'm Slovak. Both of my parents are Slovak. I don't believe in this DNA.' And I forgot about it. I never even thought about it again."

Years earlier, someone did suspect that she was Italian, however.

“My husband’s grandpa. When Jerry took me over and we were going together and he introduced me, he (grandpa) said, ‘You’re Italian?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m Slovak.’ He said, ‘I don’t believe you, you’re Italian. You look like my own daughters. So much like my own daughters. I’m going to change your name to Buronico.’”

Early Monaco family photos show Sandra Monaco Smith as a blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl that grew up in the Monacos’ Italian household. George and Lucy struggled to understand and explain the striking differences. Lucy especially fumed over hurtful comments and jokes made.

Sandra Baronick Pyne admitted that if she dwelled on the fact that she will never know her biological parents, it would make her sad. “But I’m trying to look at the good side. I have the family I was raised with, and I have this new family,” she said.

The three siblings are thankful they have the opportunity to make up for lost time.

Debra and Sandra phone or text each other daily, shop together and enjoy lunches and dinners together.

"We may not have been sisters all of our lives, but we will be sisters the rest of our lives," Sandra Pyne said.

In turn, Debra said Sandra Monaco Smith will always be her "lifelong sister," but Sandra Monaco Pyne is the "rest-of-my-life" sister.